It's taken me twenty years to realize that it
always comes back to going beyond, on a daily basis.

You can say moan and say things are different
nowadays - that the economy is demanding more so than ever. Yadda, yadda.

The road of excellence has always been
demanding but the economy hasn't always required it.

The only sure thing in this profession is that
by always going beyond, you will honor the talents within you and discover things you never realized. It's the path of no regrets and its own reward. More often than
not, doing so will open up unexpected opportunities. People will respond, sometimes financially, to the stretching of your abilities. But ultimately, how your talents get
recognized is beyond you. No creative is entitled to fame, accolades or moola. Van Gogh is a reminder of that.

"Going beyond" for the photojournalist manifests itself in
different areas, but it's always about being different, unique, extreme or
dedicated beyond measure.

Beyond
Your Schedule

At first you own a photo project. You're
delighted to have a project you can sink your teeth into. But then, like a
jealous lover, it owns you. It makes demands on your time that questions your
commitment and priority. Or
maybe you're on an unbelievable assignment but the moment hasn't ripened.
You have dinner plans. Should you leave and have your colleague enjoy the
moment you've been nursing for your entire shift? In the movie, The Paper, this
idea comes to a climactic scene with the quote, "You're either there or you’re
not!"

By all means, honor your commitments to family.
But you can't avoid going beyond the structured eight-hour day. As a documentarian,
other people's lives won't conform to your schedule. The assignment editor will need you just at the moment when you hope to break away. You'll have to shoot something on your own time just to prove that something is the story you think it is. Just avoid having this conversation with your union steward.

Beyond
Your Equipment

Don't let yourself be defined by the lack, or
even the abundance, of gear. If you work at a news organization, push and
defend the purchase of gear at your company, but don't limit your creative
impulses to what the company provides. It's not there to finance your creative
vision. Likewise, if you work for yourself, invest in gear as you can afford.

My mistake early on was not considering how other types of gear could transform the look of my photography and my
marketability. Like many photojournalists, I psyched myself out of expanding
my repertoire because of the expense and difficulty. I thought it was all about
composition and content. But the world is visually
sophisticated and therefore harder to impress.

Beyond
Your Assignment

The best pictures are totally unexpected. They
weren't a gleam in the eye of an editor, reporter or photographer. They were
spontaneous moments that grabbed your heart and breath. While working
on a story about children of addicts, a friend captured a little girl saying a
nighttime prayer for a new father - someone not addicted to drugs. As an image, it was just a
simple picture of a girl praying. But that image seized the public's attention and led to
authorities swooping into the family's life. When you receive an assignment, you'll want to treat the
whole situation as your canvas. Avoid the literal and predictable.

Beyond
Your Comfort

A local photojournalism instructor has her
students photograph someone who "scares" them. There's nothing like
getting scared witless to heighten your senses. But the more you can get past
the fight-or-flight response, the more you can condition yourself to think
creatively in situations that are beyond your comfort zone, and the comfort
zone of your audience. Those are the images loaded with insight, interest and
power.

But going beyond comfort is not just about courting danger. It's
also about interrupting routine. Routine can be a sedative. We spend our lives
listening to commercials that will take away pain, discomfort and perceived
threats. It's a mindset that creeps into everything. Yet photojournalists
can't shrink away from unsettling and messy experiences.

As is often the case, the success of
our work can be measured by how much we interrupt our personal routines to gain what lies beyond.

-----------------------------

Be sure to catch up on all of the weekly photography tips from Assignment Chicago!